Houses of Cards
by Bil
Summary: Does the Sorting Hat really know what it's doing? AD, SS. Complete.


**Houses of Cards**  
By Bil!

Summary: Does the Sorting Hat really know what it's doing?

Disclaimer: _Harry Potter_ is owned by J.K. Rowlings. This story is for entertainment purposes only and no money has (or will) exchanged hands. No copyright infringement is intended. This story may not be posted elsewhere without the consent of the author.

Author's Notes: Set during the first Voldemort war. Many thanks to Riffinton, my beta, who pointed out a major flaw. Any that remain are all my fault.

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**Houses of Cards**

by Bil!

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Albus watches the young man leave his office, his eyes sad; the door swings closed behind the lean form with a firm but quiet thud. His gaze falls to his desk and catches on the chocolate frog card propped up against the inkwell, from which his own face smiles back. A student gave it to him at the end of the year, and though it had amused him at the time it now depresses him.

"Considered by many the greatest wizard of modern times," he quotes sadly. Disturbed by the noise, Fawkes pulls his head out from beneath his wing and looks at Albus for a moment, then gives a soft trill and goes back to sleep. Lost in thought, Albus barely notices.

He is aware of how people view him: the defeater of Grindelwald, the one person Voldemort fears, a great and powerful wizard. He has heard them praising him, speaking of his strength, his wisdom, his bravery, his courage. He inspires hope, a feeling currently too rare in the wizarding world.

He has his detractors, of course, people who cannot see past his genial manner, people who equate feigned absentmindedness and a liking for Muggle sweets with lunacy and weakness. Which is rather the point: he would prefer to be underestimated by those who oppose him.

For the same reasons, he does nothing to dispel the rumour that he was a Gryffindor. He knows that the wizarding community sees Gryffindors as a group: brave, yes, but forthright and unsubtle. His enemies do not expect shrewd subterfuge or subtle, long-reaching plans. Stereotypes can be useful, no matter how he dislikes them.

As a matter of fact, he never went to Hogwarts. Upon becoming the Headmaster, though, he chose to put on the Sorting Hat: it didn't put him in Gryffindor.

It put him in Hufflepuff.

He approves. There is an irony to it that delights him, the "greatest wizard" belonging to that humble, frequently overlooked house. It shows how poorly people understand him. They call him brave, but he is not brave. They call him powerful, never thinking that a little power used well can do more than a lot of power wielded badly.

He is no cliche Gryffindor, not brave and daring. He is far more Hufflepuff, working hard, spending his life immersed in plots and plans. He works hard to maintain a defence against both Voldemort and the blundering idiots meant to be on the side of Right. He works to maintain the facade of an eccentric, doddering old fool.

Sighing, he pushes himself up from his desk and walks over to the window, staring down at the castle grounds. The young man who so recently left his office is there, walking to the castle gates, black robes churning in the wind. Albus knows precisely where he is headed, and it hurts, to know that he has asked someone so young to take on such a burden.

And because of that, Albus knows he is no Hufflepuff, despite all his hard work. Hufflepuffs, the Hat claims, are just, and they are honourable and fair. But he is not fair, for he expects of another the bravery he cannot find in himself.

They call him the best defence against Voldemort. He is lauded as the greatest, the bravest, the- No. He is none of that. He is just an old man, hiding in his school, who sends others to do the tasks of courage.

He sends Severus Snape, youngest member of the Hogwarts teaching staff - barely older than the students - to risk everything as a spy.

If the Sorting Hat were accurate, if it truly placed children in the house that best suited them, Severus would have been a Gryffindor. It is a thought he will never voice, for few could ever agree with him and there would be many who would look at him with horror at such a heretical statement. That doesn't make it any less true. After all, it is the "bravest of the brave" who are sent to Gryffindor, and if that is not Severus, then it is no one.

Sometimes, when he is exhausted, and the burden on his shoulders seems too heavy to lift, Albus considers, if only for a moment, giving up. Just giving up and leaving, going far away where there is no burden, no war to fight. It isn't Gryffindor, nor is it Hufflepuff, but it is true. But always, in that moment, he remembers Severus and he cannot give up. Strangely enough, in his darkest moments Albus continues to fight simply for Severus' sake.

Because Severus came to him as little more than a boy and admitted to making a mistake. Because Severus took pain and fear and worked on despite them, with that awesome courage that only someone who knows fear can ever exhibit. Because Severus risks life, sanity, and soul to play spy in Voldemort's ranks. Because Severus willingly plunges himself into heart-killing darkness on the chance that it might help Albus save the world.

Albus cannot give up because he cannot fail Severus. He cannot fail a man who suffers so much, who practices so much bravery, all because he thinks it is the right thing to do.

It was Severus who showed him that the houses are meaningless: a Slytherin who commits acts of Gryffindor bravery without ambition. No, the houses are nothing. Severus proves it.

Severus the strong. Severus the brave. Severus, who offers himself to the darkness to try and stop others suffering the same fate. He gains no glory from it: many hate him, think the worst of him, call him "evil". He expects every day to be dead by nightfall and he will probably be dead before the end of this war. Why should he do this? There is no acclaim: he will gain no power, no fame, no riches, only pain and hate. And yet he does it, because he believes it is Right.

Severus the brave.

And Albus is forced to watch him sacrifice himself on his bravery, and knows that without Severus those people who say "evil" would be lost. Without the suffering of the man they hate, many of them would already be dead. Albus almost envies them their ignorance, their freedom to hate without the knowledge that weighs him down. It is hard to watch a good man suffer; worse, perhaps, to know that in his place _he_ would not have stood so strong. Despite the praise directed at him, Albus knows Severus is a much greater man.

One day, perhaps, he will tell Severus a story. A story about the Slytherin who should have been a Gryffindor and the supposed Gryffindor who was really a Hufflepuff. He thinks Severus will appreciate it.

He knows he does.

Sometimes it makes him weep.

_Fin_

© Copyright 2004


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